


Warmth

by kelolon



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 18:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14550465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelolon/pseuds/kelolon
Summary: Three words Levi hasn't heard in 25 years.





	Warmth

The first time Erwin tells him he loves him, Levi freezes.

It’s a chilly night in late autumn, and they’re tangled together in the remnants of afterglow. It comes out of nowhere. He isn’t prepared. He makes a non-committal noise of acknowledgement.

The last person who told him she loved him was his mother.

She told him every day. One night, she’d reached out to him, and it came out in a hoarse whisper. It had been that way for weeks now. Her hand was cold. He crawled into bed and curled up at her side anyway.

The next morning, the rest of her was cold, too.

Everything else was exactly the same. The air was stale—not that he’d ever breathed fresh air—and it was dark, though the morning had come. Or had it?  It was hard to tell when you never saw the sun. It didn’t matter. He was still hungry. It didn’t seem right that nothing else had changed. Her death was meaningless. He knew that much, even back then. He was never much of a crier (it got her in trouble), so he just sat quietly in their room, not sure if he’d be around much longer, either. He wasn’t sure he cared. The only person who ever loved him was gone.

That was more than 25 years ago.

Now, against all odds, he’s found someone else who loves him. Whom he loves. Shit,  _is_  he in love? How long has he been fooling himself that he isn’t? Like this is some casual thing, even though he’s never let anyone else come anywhere near this close to him? Even though, somewhere underneath the surprise, there’s something far more profound, and he’s devoted his heart to this man in more ways than one?

God damn it.

Erwin knows him well enough not to take offense when Levi doesn’t echo his sentiments verbally. This is different, though. He doesn’t want to leave something with so much weight hanging between them. He’s been caught in his own memories for awhile now, though, and Erwin’s breathing has since evened out. He’s asleep. It’s too late.

For some reason, that doesn’t stop him. He heaves a sigh of defeat.

“I love you, too.”

He freezes again when Erwin reaches over and squeezes his hand.

It’s warm.


End file.
